Harvest Moon: A Circle of Friends
by Belina
Summary: Mary leaves to the city to recover from a heartache. But tragedy strikes and she finds something that she never knew she had. One shot fic.


A girl walked out of the Library. She had long black hair pulled back in a tidy braid and her dark brown eyes hid behind large glasses were filled with hurt and sorrow. She had just gotten into an argument with her now ex- boyfriend. She relived the moment over again in her head.  
  
--------  
  
"Don't you love me? You never even show it! You won't even let me hold your hand!" Jack yelled.  
  
"But, Jack! I-I don't feel comfortable holding your hand. . ." She mumbled.  
  
"Well, Mary, if you don't think you can handle being with me then maybe we should just end it here!" He said angrily.  
  
"No, n-n-no! We can work it out! We can become closer than ever," She said trying to get to him to give him a hug. He pushed her away.  
  
"Mary! No! It's too late! We've been dating for a season already! I don't know what on earth I saw in you! You don't talk much, your face is always buried in a book, you never leave the library. Heck I bet you don't even have any friends!" Jack said and he left the Library slamming the door behind him.  
  
---------  
  
Mary was left there. The tears welled up in her eyes. 'I don't have friends. . .I don't even have anyone to love anymore. . .I need to get away from here. . .' she thought. She closed up the Library and shut the door firmly and leaned against it. 'But where to go? The town near-by? No. . .not there it's too close. . .I guess I'll ask my mother.' She walked next door to her house and went inside.  
  
"Mama?" She asked.  
  
"Yes dear? I'm upstairs!" She heard her mother, Anna, and she went up the stares wiping the tears from her eyes. She couldn't let her mother know what happened to her or her mother would probably hire an assassin.  
  
"Mama, I want to go away for a while. I want to take a vacation," She stated.  
  
"I understand dear, you do work very much, you should go to the city. That would be a nice place to go," Anna said thoughtfully.  
  
"That sounds good, I'll leave tomorrow!" She said, "I'm going to the supermarket to buy some things for my trip! I'll be back later!" She said and she walked back downstairs and out the door,  
  
She approached the supermarket 3 minutes later, she had taken her time getting there, she felt she was in no hurry at all.  
  
"Good afternoon Mary! All the girls are in the back room, or are you here on an errand?" Jeff, the owner of the store and Karen's dad. Karen, the alcoholic. Mary and Karen were never close, Karen was nice but Mary never really saw the effort Karen put forth to make friends with her.  
  
"Oh I'm just here for some things, I'm going on a little vacation to the city, and I'll just be needing a few things," She said and she started to search around a bit, she found what she needed and paid for the items.  
  
As she was handing Jeff her money she couldn't help but think, 'Those four are probably talking about me and Jack's break-up already. He probably told one of them and now they're all fighting over who's going to get him and laughing over what a geek I am!' she was angry, but also sad. She yearned for friends like them. But she never knew that they considered her as a friend. She walked out of the store with her items and went to pack.  
  
The next day she set off early for the city.  
  
"Bye mama, bye papa!" She said to her parents on the dock, whom had come to see her off.  
  
"Be safe, princess," Her father said and she hugged him tightly, assuring that she would keep safe.  
  
"We love you Mary, I hope this vacation will do you well," Her mother said hugging her tightly and kissing her forehead. She boarded the boat and waved good bye until they were completely out of site.  
  
----------  
  
Now in the city Mary called for a Taxi that took her to her Hotel. It was a small hotel that looked like an apartment building, it was downtown but it was still very nice. Mary walked in and checked in at the counter.  
  
"Ma'mn are you staying here all alone?" The receptionist asked, "You should always travel with a friend, it's safer," She said politely. But Mary took it to heart.  
  
"That is not your business, I would just like a room with one bed," She said trying to keep from getting mad.  
  
"Okay, miss. I was just concerned for you safety, here's your key to your room. It's number 213 on the second floor to your left," the receptionist said.  
  
Mary made her way to the elevator and then went straight to her room where she unpacked for the night and then changed into some blue jeans and a comfy maroon sweater and let her hair down. She decided she was going to go out for the night, live life like she hadn't before. She put in her contacts that she never used and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked like a whole other person. And frankly she was quite pleased with herself. She decided to go to a hip night club.  
  
As soon as she walked in she was noticed by a group of girls and guys. They waved to her and she walked over to them.  
  
"Hey babe, you wanna drink? I'll get you whatever you want?" A nice- looking boy asked her.  
  
"David! Stop flirting," She said to the guy, "Hey there, my names Kelly, and that's David and the other two are Stephanie and Todd!" Kelly said nicely. And the others waved.  
  
"Hi, I'm Mary," She said, for some reason she felt comfortable with these people. They ordered her a drink and asked her if she wanted to dance with them. Soon she was having the time of her life, dancing with cute guys and these two girls seemed like close friends already.  
  
"Mary you having fun?" Stephanie asked and Mary nodded.  
  
"Hey, David! Todd! Go get us some more drinks!" Kelly yelled to the two boys and they ran off to the bar to get more drinks. Mary drank and drank and soon she felt so happy and carefree that she just could barely take it. 'So THIS is how Karen feels! No wonder she drinks all the time!' Mary thought.  
  
Soon it was closing time at the club. And they all had to leave. Outside they were deciding what to do next.  
  
"I can drive you back to your hotel room, Mary," Todd slurred, it was obvious that he was drunk but so was Mary and everyone else so they all piled in the red convertible and headed off. But drunk driving always has it's price, always, especially when you aren't wearing your seat belt.  
  
Todd was driving and it all seemed to be going well but suddenly he realized he was in the wrong lane for his turn and he turned the steering wheel to try and get to the far lane. But he turned too much and the car spun out of control and all five were thrown from the car.  
  
Mary woke up and saw blood all around her. She felt sick, so very sick. She vomited, and as she put a hand up to sweep her beautiful black hair out of her face her hand slipped under her scalp. She came to the realization that the blood, was coming from her. She blacked out.  
  
------------  
  
A week later Mary woke up in a hospital in the city, she saw her parents sleeping, their faces tear stained and red. She gingerly lifted a hand and placed on her head. She no longer had her black locks that she had been growing out most of her life. She started to cry. And her mind wondered, 'What happened to Stephanie? Kelly? Todd and David? Did the same thing happen to them? Did Stephanie loose her blonde curls? Did Kelly no longer have her brown waves? Were they even alive?' She was hurt and angry, she had friends and they were so soon taken away from her.  
  
"Mary?" She heard her mother cry weakly from the chair as she sat up and saw her sobbing daughter, "Mary! Mary! Honey, we were so worried about you!" Her mother said crying harder than Mary had ever seen her cry. She came up and kissed Mary many times. This soon woke her father.  
  
"She's awake? Mary, you're awake! We were so terrified that we had lost you! I'm so glad you're okay!" He said so very happily, he too was crying, something she had never seen him do. Mary just smiled weakly.  
  
"What happened to. . . . the other's I was in the car with? Do you know?" She asked in a small voice.  
  
Her parents looked away, "They. . .they all died, dear," Her mother said. Tears didn't flow freely for them though, for some reason Mary couldn't cry. She was just angry. They had gotten her drunk and then killed themselves and hurt her immensely. No, she couldn't blame them, could she? Mary was torn, she soon fell asleep again.  
  
----------  
  
Three weeks after the accident Mary came home to Mineral Village. She had over one hundred stitches ranging all over her head. She had received plenty of human hair wigs of all colors and lengths, but she preferred to wear just one, a long black wig, one that reminded her much of her own hair.  
  
She was scared of the name calling that was in store for her when she got home and that's all she thought about on the boat trip home. But when she reached the beach she was surprised to see so many people waiting for her. She was touched that she had people who cared for her right under her nose. In fact the whole village was there. They each gave her a hug, even Jack. All she could do was hug back and cry, she was just so happy she didn't know what to do.  
  
That night she was invited to Popuri's house for a sleep over with the other girls. They told her that she had to attend for they had a surprise for her. She didn't know what it was but she was touched that they wanted to spend time with her, even if it was just out of sympathy.  
  
"Mary, dear. Please come right in," Lillia said to her as she knocked on the door. "The girls are upstairs," she said and Mary went up and found the most shocking thing ever.  
  
Each one of the girls had shaved their hair off. Karen no longer had her beautiful long brown hair and those two blonde bangs. Ann's red curls were gone. Elli's short brown hair wasn't there and Popuri's colored locks were no longer there.  
  
"Surprise!" They all yelled. Mary started crying.  
  
Karen came up to her first, "We know that loosing your head of hair can be rough," She started.  
  
"But we couldn't really understand until we lost ours," Ann said.  
  
"So we all shaved our hair off, and now we can all wear wigs together," Popuri added.  
  
"And we can all take the teasing from the guys, together as friends," Elli finished.  
  
Mary was speechless she only spit out a thank you and the five girls gathered around her to give her a big hug and to cry together.  
  
The girls all waited until Mary was ready to stop wearing her wigs, which was a year later. To this day the girls still remain friends, all of them happily married. Mary to Gray, Karen to Rick, Popuri to Kai, Elli to the doctor Tim and Ann to Cliff. Each one of them have a large family with plenty of kids and they still recall that one night, where Mary found friendship that was always right under her nose, and a circle of friends was born.  
  
---------------------- A/N: Hope this was a touching story, 'cause that's what I was going for! This didn't exactly come from my head, this is based on a true story that I read out of a Chicken Soup book. So don't think that I came up with it all. I thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoyed it. Comments would be very much appreciated! 


End file.
